A common method of treating temporary or chronic pain is by application of heat or cold to the afflicted area. Such heat treatments are used as a means of therapy for conditions which include aches, stiffness in muscles and joints, nerve pain, rheumatism, arthritis, and the like. Typically, the method for relieving pain using heat treatments has been topical application of relatively high heat, e.g., greater than about 40° C. for a short period of time, e.g., from about twenty minutes to about one hour.
Elastic compression wrap bandages have been used to help stabilize afflicted areas during injury healing. Heating pads, whirlpools, hot towels, hot water bottles, hot packs, cold packs and the like have been commonly used to apply heat or cold to an area to relieve the pain of aches, stiffness in muscles and joints, nerve pain, rheumatism, arthritis, and the like. However, many of these devices are inconvenient for use on a regular and extended basis because for example the heat energy may not be immediately available when needed or may not be released in a controllable manner. That is, many of the thermal units or devices do not provide long lasting heat and also do not maintain a consistent temperature over long periods of time. Proper positioning of the thermal energy also may not be maintainable during joint flexure or other body movement. In general, the beneficial therapeutic effects from the administration of heat diminish after the heat source is removed—thus movement or flexion of a joint or body part may remove the heat source from contact with the joint or body part and thereby reduce the effectiveness of the device.
Various thermal devices are known, such as heat packs based on iron oxidation. However, such devices have not proven satisfactory because many of these devices are bulky, cannot maintain a consistent and controlled temperature, present difficulty staying in place during use, and/or have unsatisfactory physical dimensions that hinder their efficacy, and they must be thrown away after one use. Specifically, such devices cannot be easily incorporated into wraps that comfortably and reliably conform to various body contours. Hence they deliver inconsistent, inconvenient and/or uncomfortable heat application to the body.
Recently, improved disposable body wraps have been described in such documents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,728,057; 5,728,058; 5,860,945; 6,048,326; 5,728,146; 5,735,889; 6,102,937; 6,123,717; 5,925,072; 6,074,413; 5,741,318; 5,980,562; 5,674,270; 5,837,005; 6,096,067; 6,019,782; 5,906,637; 6,024,761; 5,904,710; and 6,336,935; WO 98/29064; WO 97/01312; WO 97/01310; WO 97/49361; WO 98/29063; WO 99/09917; WO 99/09918; and WO 01/19302. These documents disclose disposable body wraps comprising a plurality of heat cells, wherein the body wraps deliver consistent, long-lasting thermal treatment to the afflicted area of the body. The wraps described in these documents, and the technology incorporated therein, have provided important advances in the art.
Recently, wraps such as HEAT ZONE®, commercially available from AccuFitness, Englewood, Colo., have been provided that contain a “semi-durable” (i.e. partly reusable, or reusable for a limited number of uses) body wrap having a pocket for the placement of a single “heat pad” containing an exothermic composition. While these products diminish the disposable nature of the overall product, and thus may be more economical than full disposable devices, the heat pads are subject to movement and displacement when contained in the pocket. This results in decreased efficacy and utility of the overall wrap because it fails to consistently deliver efficacious heat therapy to the area in need of treatment.
Thus, with many known disposable, reusable and partially reusable wraps, it is particularly difficult to get consistent heat applied to the hand and wrist area. Such wraps are particularly disadvantageous for those having arthritis in the hand and wrist area, and particularly the thumb. The thumb is a crucial digit necessary for most daily functions, and is often particularly painful when injured or arthritic. Yet it is difficult to effectively apply and retain heat to the thumb with many of the known therapeutic thermic devices. In addition, many known thermic devices are particularly difficult for a user with injured or arthritic hands to apply to their own bodies. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide economical disposable, reusable, and/or partly reusable thermal devices that provide secure, consistent, long-lasting application of heat to the hand-wrist area, while particularly providing heat to the thumb area and being easy for a user with injured or arthritic hands to apply.